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A damaged vehicle lies by the side of a street in Yiliang on September 8, 2012. — Photo by AFP

YILIANG: Rescuers searching for survivors from twin earthquakes that struck southwestern China battled blocked roads and downed communications on Saturday as the death toll rose to 80.

Scores of people were leaving their homes in the mountainous border area of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, carrying their belongings amid fears of further aftershocks as volunteers with supplies streamed in the opposite direction.

Some 820 people were injured and 201,000 displaced after two 5.6-magnitude quakes struck the resource rich but impoverished region.

Premier Wen Jiabao, who visited the worst-hit Yiliang county in Yunnan overnight, urged rescue workers to redouble their efforts in the crucial first 72 hours.

“Rescuing people is the top priority,” he said in comments broadcast on CCTV news. The premier wore running shoes as he visited hospital patients and survivors camping out in tents before flying back to Beijing.

Families staying in tents said they feared their homes were no longer safe.

“The house kept shaking and as I have four children, I couldn't stay there any longer,” said a man surnamed Qing. “We experienced the earthquake and it was terrifying.”

Parents walked around carrying babies on their backs as well as big bundles of possessions. Others took bowls of instant noodles from relief workers and queued to fill them with hot water.

A 12-year-old schoolgirl named Xiaoli said she feared returning to her school, which was damaged during the quake. “We don't want to go back,” she said.

The death toll may yet rise as crippled infrastructure has made it difficult to collect information, a provincial official told state news agency Xinhua.

The Global Times newspaper said the earthquakes highlighted China's continued vulnerability to natural disasters, despite decades of rapidly improving wealth and living standards in much of the country.

“A quake as strong as Friday's... could have caused fewer or even no casualties in a more developed region,” it said.

Television footage showed rescue workers walking across rubble with dogs on leashes.

One team saved a little girl on Saturday afternoon and sent her to the hospital for treatment, a worker told CCTV news.

One village surrounded by near-vertical cliffs had been evacuated as crumbling rock continued to fall. Giant boulders had crushed the road and vehicles.

Southwest China is prone to earthquakes. In May 2008, an 8.0-magnitude tremor rocked Sichuan and parts of neighbouring Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, killing tens of thousands and flattening swathes of the province.

The Global Times said that after the latest quake, authorities should emphasise safety and sustainability in future developments.

Corner-cutting in construction projects leading to shoddy buildings, especially schools, was blamed for the death toll being as high as it was in the 2008 Sichuan quake.

“Many would prefer bigger, rather than safer but more expensive, houses or apartments,” it said.

“To take the time and invest money in the prevention of natural disasters, which are unpredictable and are unlikely to occur, does not seem like a persuasive proposal to many in China.”